iPhone 5S rumoured 4.3-inch screen could lead to delay

Here's a juicy morsel of semiconductor industry gossip (not a phrase I've ever written before) -- Apple is planning a larger screen for its next-generation iPhone 5S, and the switch could lead to the flagship phone being delayed until the end of the year.

Apple's release schedule for its major gadgets is usually regular as clockwork, with a fresh new design for the iPhone every other year, and an S upgrade with the same chassis but boosted internals the year after. They always come out in the autumn, in plenty of time for Christmas.

So this rumour, which comes via our sister site CNET News and Taiwan's Commercial Times, quoted by Bloomberg, would be a major departure for the Californian company and its biggest product. Apple apparently "halted processor production for [the] iPhone 5S in May," according to BrightWire News, an industry site quoted by CNET.

Last month it was reported that Apple was working on 4.7- and 5.7-inch models, a radical departure that would aggressively take on the booming phablet market.

A budget version of the iPhone, dubbed the iPhone Light in previous reports, is also due this year, and is set to hit the October deadline. Delaying a bigger iPhone 5S would give the new cheaper model more of the limelight, and make the difference between the two more obvious.

It's definitely worth pointing out that previous leaked images have pegged the 5S as being almost identical to the iPhone 5. Were those ones fake? Or earlier prototypes built before Apple changed its mind? Or is this all nonsense? Take your pick, friends.

Do you think the iPhone 5S needs to have a larger screen to take on the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4? Or is it just hunky dory as it is? Would you be annoyed if you had to wait a few more months? Play the speculation game in the comments below, or over on our unconfirmed Facebook page.